


A Restless Night

by Writerperson78



Category: King of Fighters
Genre: Alcohol, Character Development, Comfort, Conversations, Cuddling, Established Relationship, F/M, Late Night Conversations, Minor OC(a butler), Naked Cuddling, Nudity, One Shot, Rare Pairings, Romance, Some Humor, half detailed mentions of oral sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:28:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27103465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writerperson78/pseuds/Writerperson78
Summary: Just a couple of close people getting used to a new life, sort of...in between their usual ‘day jobs’, they learned to appreciate the time they get to have together when it comes up. Conversations about life and whatever else is going on. Adelheid Bernstein and Whip may have been an unlikely couple to run into each other, but they found something rather special.(Much like the other stories, this takes place during the Ash saga, before XIII; after Etudé in terms of the fics.)
Relationships: Adelheid Bernstein/Seirah | Whip
Kudos: 1





	A Restless Night

**Author's Note:**

> Just a heads up: I rated the fic Mature since there is a scene that gets into a pretty naughty description of a little 'flashback', but I didn't feel it was *that* bad enough to warrant the full on E-lemon rating(Hard M for sure.) Maybe I'd describe it as 'Limon.' But I figure I'd give it a heads up just in case since there's a little bit of detail. 
> 
> Also I usually put a note in regard to ages; KOF's timeline is a big mystery to anyone since when I first started playing it, it went year by year, until it didn't, and then no one knows, but I generally like to say at least one year passed in between arcs(so about four from the start of the series.) Adelheid's age is never mentioned but I put him in the 22-23 year old ballpark during the Ash arc, with Whip being 19 during the Ash arc(probably close to 20 during the Verse arc later.) Plus, she refers to K'-said to be around 17-18-as *little* brother, which makes her older by default. (Essentially, the writer in me simply does not deal with timelines that don't move since my fic series can take place over periods of time; this little 3 fic series alone, for example, takes up probably around nine months of time, starting with Dark Legacies.)

Toweling off his hair, Adelheid had just gotten out of the shower after his daily training session-later than usual today due to his morning being filled. Only bothering to throw on his trousers, he grabbed a bottle of wine off of the shelf of his large quarters, poured a glass and headed onto the balcony to cool off a bit. 

It was autumn, and the air was very chilly by now; they were currently around Germany again, having flown several places before coming back. He knew that Whip and the rest of them had just gotten back again recently-the next tournament would likely be held here, after all, and this was where most of the information they scrounged up was leading to. 

They had just arrived a few days ago, Whip having already stopped by once for some hours the day they arrived, but she was due back again tonight at some point. 

He walked back in after a few moments of the chill air-it could even be properly called cold, though it didn’t seem to bother him, even after a shower-to sit with a pile of papers he had been looking through. It was mostly business stuff with a few of his more private things he had been looking into with Colonel Heidern, as his sister continued to be a lot more distant than usual. She was not acting particularly cruel, but there was absolutely something wrong, and it kept eluding both him and Heidern, much to their frustration. He had sat with him a couple of nights before over glasses of whiskey and all they had managed to figure out was the strange group, Those from the Past, were trying to set something up, seemingly to do with Orochi from what they could tell with Ash’s movements-but they were not sure. 

The comm buzzed by the door as he was flipping another page. “Yes?” he called.

“Master Adelheid, the lady Seirah is here,” he said.

Adel smiled. “It’s open.” 

Within a few moments, Whip entered; setting her large bag off to the side and removing her coat, hanging it where Adel had his. Stretching, she walked over to the table where he sat and placed her hands on his shoulders. She started rubbing as he tilted his head back to see her. 

She silently leaned in to kiss him; it lasted several moments before she pulled away; he reached over to run a hand down her bare shoulder. “Hi,” she said. It felt more...natural for her to do things like this, she noticed. 

He pulled one of the chairs closer and slid her one of the glasses he had, as he knew she had developed a taste for some of his better wines. Looking down at the papers again he stacked them and tossed them to the side before he grabbed his own glass back. 

“You made it,” he said. “Wasn’t sure what time you were coming.”

“Got here as quick as I could. Colonel Heidern let me go early,” she added. Heidern knew, and supported things, so long as things did not get in the way, though Whip still didn’t really speak of it-she never actually told anyone, of course, but after everything it was _fairly_ obvious. 

He smiled. “I just finished training. I don’t have anything this evening, but some time tomorrow I have to go out,” Adel replied. He grabbed his wine glass and headed over to his bed to lay down, propped up some against the padded headboard. Whip joined him, laying closely next to him and taking another drink as they relaxed in silence and looked out the window to the Noah’s balcony. They could see the city lights well in the distance; it made for a very lovely view. 

“Master Adelheid?” a voice came once again through the door, breaking the rather comfortable silence. 

“Yes, Henrik?” Adel answered, leaning up a moment. 

“Would you and the lady like anything?”

He looked at Whip questioningly; she shook her head. “Not right now,” he said. After a pause, he continued. “I’ll call you if we need anything. You can leave us for tonight.”

“Very well, sir,” the older servant said and left. Henrik was one of the few longer-time servants of the family; Adelheid had remembered him when he was younger. He was one of the few remaining-gods only knew  _ what _ the man had seen-and he even actually knew Adelheid’s uncle as well. He stayed with the family more for the children than for Rugal himself and had managed to avoid getting himself killed. He was one of the more fussy servants, who often would make sure both Adelheid and Rose had anything they needed, sometimes to the point of annoyance...like when they wanted to be left alone, for example. 

Whip suddenly burst out laughing. “I can’t forget your rather excellent timing during my last visit.”

“I didn’t know Henrik was in the other room,” he snorted, his brow furrowing. He was clearly not actually upset, though, as he still smirked. He knew exactly what she was talking about since it had happened a few days ago. “If you noticed, I told him that he could leave us alone this time,” he added, sliding a hand behind his head. 

“I was afraid he was about to use one of the keycards if you hadn’t stopped,” she said, poking him in the chest. 

Adelheid looked sheepish a moment, scratching his head. “I hadn’t seen you in awhile,” he grinned. “I guess I got a bit excited.”

Whip could only laugh. It was a rather amusing moment; having gotten into his quarters after two weeks apart, their long embrace turned into a very deep and passionate kiss...which  _ then _ turned somehow into her being pushed against the wall and him tugging at her trousers as she stood there. This was not  _ quite _ like him, though she was in no way against it. 

His intentions became apparent as she watched him kneel in front of her and start to kiss her rather  _ intimately _ ; her mind sort of started to blank as she buried her hands in his hair. It was a struggle just to stay standing as she felt him lick intensely at her, far more so than what she had felt from him the other times he went down on her. They had only been alone long enough to do anything a few times so far, to be sure, but he was usually a little more slow and deliberate in his actions. She did like when he would use his sheer strength to manhandle her a bit; he was never too rough at all with her, but it was  _ just _ enough to get her turned on even more.

She must have gotten a  _ bit _ too loud at this change of pace-which she was  _ wholly  _ welcoming to, for what it was worth, as she liked this more forward side of him when it would come out-since a knock had appeared at the door not long after. 

“Master Adelheid? Is anything amiss?” The familiar and muffled voice of Henrik came through the door, sounding a bit concerned.

He hadn’t answered, too busy at the moment to bother, and Whip was quite lost in the moment herself given how good it felt. The knock appeared again. Whip finally shook her head; after nudging him to no avail, she found she had to smack his head lightly a few times to get his attention. 

He pulled away finally-his mouth rather wet already-and glared in the doors direction. 

“Henrik, we’re  _ fine _ ,” he almost growled, before quickly heading back to what he was so rudely interrupted from, causing Whip to have to bite her lip-her hands were busy helping to steady herself by holding onto his head-lest she had gotten too loud again. She managed to keep her moaning at least  _ somewhat _ under control after that. 

He had ended up keeping her there for  _ quite _ awhile, much to her pleasure. 

Chuckling a bit at the situation, Whip looked back over to him as they lay on his bed, side by side. "I do like it here, though, even with servants crawling everywhere."

He smiled. "You get used to it. They basically raised us." He slid his fingers through hers when she put a hand on his stomach. 

“They did, didn’t they…” she said. She imagined that whoever their mother had been had likely been absent knowing Rugal’s habits-if she was still alive at this point-and she was aware of an uncle, though he had apparently become estranged before Adelheid could remember. 

“My father trained me some, but that was about it. I picked up the rest on my own. Servants even mostly taught us business. And whatever teachers were blackmailed into working here, I guess.” He snorted. This part of his life was a bit strange-he talked about it fairly easily with her, though she could tell he would be bothered now and again. 

Whip kept her hand in his. “It’s okay...I don’t remember much at all about my youth. Maybe...it’s better that way.”

“Why do you say that?”

“The...circumstances of everything.” She knew Adel knew about her situation. 

Adel smiled softly at her. He was sometimes sort of unsure on how to really help someone; he did the best he could given the strange life he lived himself growing up; he was unfortunately able to remember many things he had done while under duress, though he wished he could forget sometimes. “You can make new memories, if you want, you know. You have plenty of time.”

Whip closed her eyes a moment, feeling rather emotional at those words...though she smiled. “I can. I have been.” Adel had helped her greatly in dealing with things. Opening them again, she looked over at him a moment before leaning into him. “How’s your sister?” she asked.

Adelheid sighed, squeezing her hand again and leaning his head into hers. “Still distant, like before. Secretive...and I haven’t been able to find much. Heidern does seem to think the group is manipulating her somehow...but I can’t figure it out or do anything about it. She seems to think she’s manipulating them...but I doubt this more and more. I can’t even find them to take them out right now.” Running his thumb over her hand, he glanced at her. “Have you seen K’?” He knew she cared about her little brother herself; the two did have that in common in regards to younger siblings. 

“Not much. He does his thing...I do mine. He’s usually surly...though I know he means well,” she smiled, giving him a comforting touch when she felt him tense up about Rose. “Hopefully soon. The rest of his team are usually friendlier, though I know for him being somewhat cordial is a high compliment. He treats me well when I see him.” K’ could be an outright asshole to most people-most of the time-but he was her little brother, and he did mean well. She sometimes wondered how he would get on with Adelheid. 

Probably about as well as he got on with almost anyone not named Seirah or Kula, she guessed...though she knew he’d leave her be about him. 

He smiled back at her, not letting the gloom stick to him. “Hope you get to see him again soon. I wouldn’t mind testing him one day.”

Whip laughed at that. “You want to test everyone.” 

He shrugged. “It’s fun.” 

She imagined the amount of danger any architecture would be in if those two had decided to spar. Looking around a moment she settled back close to him, her head resting on his, enjoying his soft hair, which had mostly dried by now. “Can I stay for a few nights?” she asked. “I have to go a few places, but it’s nicer here than the hotel.” 

Adel blinked. “Of course. You guys have stayed on the Noah before anyway. Don’t even have to ask even if I have to go somewhere.” He kissed the side of her head. 

Closing her eyes at that, she felt quite at peace. Given the lives the two lived, they didn’t get to see each other all the time; sometimes they were lucky and it was for a few days at once, sometimes two or three times a week, but others they would have a week or even often two in between. Granted, they had only gotten together about three months before, but it was still a little tough on them both. The two had lived fairly sheltered, somewhat stressful and even downright strange lives so far...and not without their shares of tragedy; both of them split between things, and both of them seemingly trying to escape shadows of their past.

This bond they were forming-which had grown stronger every time they had gotten together it felt-held a sense of normalcy for both of them that they were not used to, but were appreciating more and more. They felt like they were capable of sharing things as friends as well as more.

Whip moved slightly so she was resting on his chest; she smiled when she felt his hand on her head as he gently stroked her hair. He was glad she would be here for more than one night. He felt better with her around. He would still occasionally have nightmares of that terrible night with the attackers at the Noah-nightmares were not new for him, but that one in particular killed him inside. 

If he had  _ that _ one, he was usually not sleeping for the rest of the night, since more often than not it ended with him finishing the job. The entire next day would be clouded after that; no amount of violent training would get it out of his head. 

Shaking his head, he looked back down at her as she lay against him, her eyes closed. He remembered back to when she fell asleep against him after their first date, and how nervous he had been when she had curled up near him. 

He was very much over that now, the two freely being as physical as they wanted. 

Thinking of something, he gently shook her as he stroked her hair. “Do you need to get your things?”

Whip chuckled. “Already brought them. I figured it would have been okay.”

Adel grinned at that as she slid up to lean her head into the crook of his neck, brushing her lips over it once before she settled there more comfortably. 

\--

Sitting up in bed-the room was dark, except for some of the moonlight streaming in-Adel rubbed his eyes, slinging his legs over the side of the bed. Naked, the room was still comfortably warm, and some music played softly in the background. Adelheid mostly liked anything with a strong melodic content, be it the classical he was raised on, melodic rock and metal, or synth music. 

He wasn’t sure what woke him up, but he thought he had one of his bad dreams again. Thankfully he couldn’t remember, but he felt a bit too uncomfortable for it to have been anything else. 

His watch showed three in the morning-it wasn’t the first time he woke up like this-he looked over at Whip lying there; also naked, with the blanket half over her. He smiled at this, feeling more at peace with her there. Any servants had indeed stayed away that night, leaving them to their privacy. 

Walking across the room, he glanced outside again; not bothering to put any lights on, he simply tried to shake whatever bad feelings he had from his sleep. 

Behind him, he heard stirring. “Adel?” 

“Seirah? I didn’t wake you, did I?” He scratched his head.

“No,” she replied, sliding up. “I felt strange.” 

Adelheid walked back over to the bed, sitting back on the edge and running a hand through his hair. She moved over toward him, rubbing his shoulders again like she had earlier. “You too?” he asked. “I felt like I didn’t like what I was dreaming...even if I don’t remember.”

She tilted her head to the side as she knelt behind him, sliding her hands over his shoulders instead and resting her chin on one. She felt him relax at this. “Mine tend to be fragmented, but sometimes they come back. Memories that I don’t even know are mine or not.” Sometimes it would be the strange NESTS happenings that would come back to haunt her. 

He looked over his shoulder at her as he repositioned himself to lay back next to her as she knelt there. She brushed back some of his hair a moment before he pulled her down for a kiss. Glancing outside after it broke, he smiled softly. “Want to go out?” 

She chuckled. “Why not? Nothing much around where you have this thing parked. Might do us some good. There's a nice view, anyway."

Quickly scrounging up their clothes, dressing, and throwing on their coats, Adelheid led her outside from a back way, as to not alarm any of the servants who may think something was wrong. It wasn’t that they’d try to stop him-he was the master of the airship after all-but he sort of didn’t feel like talking to anyone else right now. 

The wind hit them as soon as they stepped off the stairs; the Sky Noah sat there like a great, steel hulk above them. Pulling his long, black jacket around himself, he took Whip’s hand as he would, interlocking his fingers with hers as they started toward some of the countryside. 

“Where are we?” she asked. 

“We’re not too far from Köln again,” he said. "We've been here a lot." He noticed Whip looking over at an area with a lot of large rocks in various states of rubble. "Oh...that," he added. "I was training there earlier."

Whip burst out laughing. “I guess you had to leave your mark?” She knew he trained by hitting the largest, heaviest things he could find. She had seen him completely shatter a large rock in a single, overhead kick before; he wasn’t even being particularly serious at the time.

He shrugged, getting that slightly smug look that he would from time to time. They continued walking, heading toward a hill where they could overlook the city; it was mostly fairly dead at this hour. There were a few trees around, where he leaned against to look out. Turning for a second, the massive Sky Noah was behind them; it had anti-radar capabilities, though it certainly wouldn’t stay hidden for long. Not that it was much of a problem for them. 

“I think being out here cleared my head some,” she said, standing in front of him to lean back against him, still holding one of his hands. 

“Same,” Adel replied, kicking at the ground with his heavy boot. “How long can you stay?” he asked, glancing down at her.

“Three or four days this time,” she said. “Longer than usual.” Looking down and playing with his fingers a moment, she sighed. “Wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

He shook his head. “It happens to both of us. I knew what I was getting into.” He smiled softly down at her. “I guess you did too.” 

“I may have.” She tilted her head up. “I think I knew right away after that first night in Vienna.” 

“It was the first time I was really able to forget about a lot of the things going on,” Adel replied. He couldn’t shake the memory of the horror that had happened a couple of weeks later, but he didn’t let it torment him. Whip had sometimes thought about it, as well, but she felt differently; it was sorrow when the memory would creep in. 

“Same for me. I mean...everything happened with me about a year before but...it was hard to escape.” Firing the bullet that killed Clone Zero, she did not regret...but she regretted a lot of the other things. 

He rubbed her arms gently. She had told him everything before one night where they sat until almost sunup. Whip had kept that part of her life incredibly guarded, but after her trust in Adelheid had solidified she had spilled out everything; her past, everything with NESTS, the whole nine. Adel had just listened, and when she was done made sure she slept well, curling around her, like she had done with him after that one night. 

Thinking for a moment, he reached for a ring he wore; it was a plain silver band. Pulling it off, he handed it to her. “I guess people do this sometimes? It’s too big for you but you can keep it on you. If you want.” He scratched his head, once again somewhat awkward. 

Looking at it in the moonlight, Whip smiled. “Of course,” she said. “I’ll find a place for it.” Running a finger over the smooth silver, it was indeed far too big for her slender fingers. She chuckled for a moment, taking off one of her earrings and handing it to him. “Here. Keep it safe. I like these. And no...it won't explode. I don’t bring those to the Sky Noah,” she laughed. 

Adel burst out laughing at that, taking it in his hand. He knew she had a secret set of them-that she didn’t use often at all-only ever once in anger in a secretive situation that called for it. “Henrik would disapprove, I’m sure.” Touching it lightly with his thumb, he put it in his pocket for now; he wore his at the moment. “Thanks,” he said, leaning down to press his forehead to hers before kissing her again. 

“Should we head back in?” she asked. “It’s getting a little cold.”

“I think I can sleep now, yeah,” he said. Keeping her hand, the two head back to the Sky Noah, more content than they had left. 

**Author's Note:**

> I decided that some of the strange happenings-fragmented dreams, etc on his part came from Those from the Past starting to get their claws into the family more; even though it was Rose they were mostly going after I felt like they may have affected him with their manipulations as well, since they wanted him out of the way too, and they felt like maybe trying to affect him mentally would work. 
> 
> This one-shot was nothing too action filled. I guess I wanted to fill in a ‘character driven piece’ to go with the other two(the sort of ‘prequel’ one shot, and the longer piece.) Maybe I should include them as part of a series, maybe? Writing dialogue is kinda tough and I guess I just wanted to do a piece that got to show what they were growing into. A small token exchange seemed to fit these sort of awkward noobs when it comes to the world of ‘having a partner.’ Experienced in battle and business, maybe, but I imagine they’re still finding themselves in other ways. 
> 
> (Mentions of Adel being completely overpowered in his training lines up with the manhua; at one point he stomps the ground and has to *hold back* from destroying an entire forest. Pulverizing a rock with a kick is probably nothing for him. Whip does actually use explosive earrings now and then, too.) 
> 
> Including a bit of pervy humor earlier on, heh. I somehow could picture them being in amusing predicaments with the amount of servants crawling around the place.


End file.
